Bug With A Bug
by avatarmerida
Summary: Marinette gets the flu, but the heroine of Paris can't exactly take a sick day. Short little fic.
"Alright, now you just stay in bed and rest up, okay sweetie?" said Mrs. Dupain-Cheng as she tucked her daughter into bed.

"Mom, mom I'm fine," insisted Marinette, pushing away the covers. "You and dad need help with that wedding order, I'm fine really."

"Marinette please," said her mother. "You are burning up and you've been coughing all day, the last thing you need is to be working. Now, take your medicine and relax. I'm right downstairs if you need anything."

"Fine," said Marinette as she swallowed the gooey, cherry flavored liquid. "But-." before she could protest any further, her head hit the pillow like a magnet. Her mother smiled as she quietly left the room and shut the door behind her.

Meanwhile, deep in the heart of Paris, Chat Noir was in the middle of battling the latest akuma victim: a disgruntled substitute teacher who was set on making everyone utterly obedient. Chat was managing well enough, but it wasn't like Ladybug to be so late. There was only so much he could do on his own.

As Marinette slept, Tikki saw the attack on the news. She could see Chat Noir struggling but try as she did she could not manage to wake Marinette up. The kwami was just too tiny and the medicine was just too strong. She knew the poor girl was ill, but the evil couldn't be freed without her. It would appear as though desperate times called for desperate measures.

Seeing no other option, Tikki scurried out the window, hoping Marinette would understand there wasn't much else she could do.

"Chat Noir! Chat Noir!" she panted, searching desperately for the black cat. Eventually, she found him hiding in an alleyway, most like pondering the whereabouts of his lady. "Chat Noir! Thank goodness I found you!"

"Um," began the cat, somewhat confused. "Ha-have we met?"

"There's not much time to explain, but I'm Ladybug's kwami, Tikki," she said breathlessly.

"Oh, well the pleasure is mine," he said with a little bow. "Is my lady okay? Why aren't you with her?"

"I'm afraid Ladybug is home in bed with a terrible cold," she explained. "She'd kill me if she knew I was asking this of you, but I know in time she'll have to understand, but I need to you to come with me to help wake her up and get her down here. We both know you can't do this alone, but trust me when I say she is in no condition to fight. She really needs you right now."

"Yes of course, take me to her," he said without hesitation, following the kwami as she flew through the sky. He leapt over rooftops trying to keep up with her until they arrived on the roof of the bakery. "Why did you stop?"

"Okay, listen, you have to promise me you won't freak out."

"Marinette is Ladybug?" repeated Chat Noir for what must have been the 12th time, his eyes and mouth wide open in shock.

"Is that all you can say?" asked an exhausted Tikki. "Look, I know it's surprising and confusing and-"

"Wonderful," finished Chat. "This is, I mean, I can't… I'm so glad it's her."

Tikki smiled as she looked at the grinning cat who hadn't taken his eyes off the black haired girl since they entered her room. Then Tikki looked at Marinette who was snoring rather loudly and knew that if she knew what was currently happening she'd curl into a ball and refuse to ever leave her room again.

"Well, that's nice to hear," said Tikki sweetly. "But we'll need to come back to that later. Right now we have to get her out of bed and defeat that akuma."

"Right," said Chat, shaking himself out of his daze and leaning down to her bedside. "My lady?" he said softly, as he gently shook her shoulder. She didn't respond. He tried again, a little firmer to no avail. Determined, he climbed in her bed and took both her shoulders and shook her more intensely. 'MY LADY WAKE UP ITS AN EMERGENCY."

She began to stir, as her eyes slowly opened he gave her one of his famous grins. "Chat Noir?" she said confused. "What are you doing here kitty?" Her utter exhaustion mixed with her dosage of cold medicine, distracted her from the fact that her partner was in her room and most likely knew her secret identity. "Am I dreaming?"

This could work out perfectly. "Yes! You're dreaming-," he began.

"No, no," she said from beneath him. "The real Chat Noir would say something like 'every day is a dream when I'm with you, my lady.'" She tried doing her best Chat Noir impression, but her attempt just sounded like a goofy Elvis. "I must really be dreaming then."

"Yes, well anyway bugaboo, we have an akuma situation,"

"Say no more," she replied drowsily. "Excuse me, I need to pardon myself away now." She lifted her head up a smidge. "I need to go transform now," she said in a loud whisper.

"Okay," he said, matching her tone, trying not to laugh.

"Okay, I'll be right back," she said, closing her eyes but not leaving her bed. In her mind she was walking off to some secure location, he could see just how far gone the medicine had made her. It was adorable. "Tikki, let's go, spots on!"  
He watched her transform, before his eyes she went from an exhausted bedridden girl to an exhausted bedridden superhero. It was absolutely captivating.

"Okay, let's go defeat the akuma," she declared, "Are you coming. Kitty?"

"My lady, you haven't left your bed,"

"You haven't left your bed," she retorted. "If I was still in bed, how could I be doing this?"  
"What are you talking about?"

"Cartwheels. Am I not doing them?"

"No."

"Oh, okay," she said, becoming more determined. "Here we go, let's go de evilize and stuff."

She furiously began to kick away the covers. She stopped every so often as sleep tried to overtake her but she snapped herself out of it as she frantically attempted to free herself from her bed. Eventually she was successful.

"I did it. I win." She declared, extending her arm toward him. "Mission accomplished. Fist bump"

"My lady, you know that getting you out of bed isn't our main mission, right?"

"Tomato, tomato," she said pronouncing them both the same way. "I'm not getting out of bed until you pound it. Don't leave me hanging. Please, my arm is getting tired."

"Very well," he said as he obliged.

"All right," she said victoriously. "Now let's get going before this evil spread like butter. Or like… evil butter."

"Evil butter," repeated Chat amused and Ladybug rose to her feet. Once her feet touched the ground, she lost her balance. Luckily, Chat managed to catch her before the hit the ground.

She sloppily shoved her finger in his face, just missing his lips which she was aiming for. "Shh, shh," she slurred. "Not one word about how I'm falling for you kitty."

"You know me too well," he snickered. "You're really in no condition to walk, my lady."

"I am in perfecto condition to walk," she protested. "I could walk miles, inches even. It's not my fault, the room turned upside down by itself, I could still walk circles around you. See?"

"You're not moving,"

"I'm not- I, I can just use my yo -yo," she decided confidently.

"Excellent idea Ladybug," he said as he picked her up.

"See? I'm doing it," she announced, flailing her arm around not holding anything, her yo-yo still secured at her hip.

"You certainly are,"

"Hold on I'm getting dizzy," she said. "Maybe you should carry me."

"If you insist,"

Eventually, despite the strenuous effort, the akuma was defeated (though Ladybug never left Cat Noir's arms). Once she used her lucky charm, he made his way back to the bakery immediately.

He couldn't decide if he hope Marinette would remember the day's events or if she would actually chalk it all up to some fever dream. Needless to say, it was different then what he expected when he dreamt about finding out who his lady really was. But in it's own way, it was perfect.

He gracefully descended through her skylight and placed her back in her bed, her transformation wearing off as she became Marinette once again. She was still attempting to fight off sleep, hopelessly delirious. "Lucky charm," she kept whispering.

"Thank you Chat Noir," said Tikki as he finished covering her with blankets. "I knew I could trust you. Ladybug is lucky to have you."

"The feeling is mutual," he said, watching over her. "And don't worry, I won't mention any of this to her. I wouldn't want to embarrass her."

"Thank you," said Tikki.

"Sleep tight, princess," murmured Chat Noir to the sleeping girl, captivated by how at peace she was, marveled at who she was with and without the mask. "Ya know, maybe I should stick around a while longer, make sure she's okay."

"Oh, that's sweet of you, but I couldn't-."

"Tikki and Chat Noir," interrupted Marinette, though it seemed as though she was more talking to herself. "I'm so glad you two are meeting. It's like worlds colliding. I want candy."

"You're sweet enough as it is," said Chat Noir. Marinette responded with an uproar of laughter, much to his delight and surprise.

"Stop!" she said between giggles. "Y-you are t-the sweet one," she said as though she had responded with an even more hilarious pun.

"I'm beginning to like the effect this medicine is having," remarked Chat with a chuckle.

Marinette continued to laugh, trying to calm herself. She reached out for Chat's hand a pulled him down onto her bed. "Chat," she loudly whispered. "Since this is a dream, I need to tell you something."

"And what's that?"  
"Come here," she pulled his head close to her and cupped her hands around his ear. "I'm Badylug."

"You don't say,"

"Also, one more thing and this is the most important thing,"

He held his breath. She brought his face closer to her lips, sending a bolt of electricity up his spine. His face felt hot, mostly because she had a serious fever. She rested her forehead against his temple as she tried to figure out the best way to say the words on her mind. Finally, she spoke.

"Could you bring me some kitty soup, chicken?"


End file.
